Now that so much data is stored and circulated electronically, a library might seem to be a slightly outdated concept. However, a huge proportion of the world's information and learning is still not available electronically, so libraries retain their importance for research and study. It is should also be remembered that libraries store books, inscriptions, and documents that are beautiful, and valuable not just for their contents, but also for their historic and artistic significance. Illuminated manuscripts, author's drafts, and the originals of documents such as Magna Carta, or the American Declaration of Independence, can never be properly appreciated online. So, we ought to celebrate the world's great libraries, and the people who work to build and maintain them, and we should visit them when we get the opportunity. Here are the world's ten largest libraries, in reverse order.
在当代，许多数据都以电子方式存储与传播，图书馆似乎已经时过境迁。但由于人们尚无法通过电子渠道获取大量的世界信息与知识，图书馆对于调查研究依然有其举足轻重的作用。别忘了，图书馆收藏精美和珍贵的书籍、碑刻与文献并不仅仅是因为它们的内容，还因为其历史意义与艺术意义。手工绘本、作家手稿以及《大宪章》《独立宣言》等原版文献，是无法通过互联网好好品读的。因此，我们应该赞美世界各大图书馆，赞美那些参与建造和维护它们的工作人员。如果有机会，不妨亲自游览一番。接下来，就以倒序方式来呈现世界十大图书馆。

10.Royal Danish Library (Denmark, Copenhagen)
10.丹麦皇家图书馆（丹麦，哥本哈根）

Founded by King Frederik III in 1648, the Royal Danish Library was first opened to the public in 1793. Since 1999, the library has occupied an impressive glass building known as the Black Diamond. It houses nearly every book ever published in Danish. Its treasures include a Gutenberg Bible, an important collection of Icelandic manuscripts, and the diaries of the fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Anderson.
丹麦皇家图书馆由弗里德里克三世下令建造，始建于1648年，并于1793年首次对公众开放。该图书馆自1999年以来就采用引人注目的黑色玻璃外墙，因此获得了“黑钻石”的美誉。这座图书馆几乎收藏了所有已出版发行的丹麦文书籍，如重要的冰岛语手稿——《古腾堡圣经》，以及童话作家汉斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生的日记。

9.Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris)
9.法国国家图书馆（巴黎）

The French National Library traces its roots to the library of King Louis XI, which he established in 1461. It became accessible to the public at the time of the French Revolution in 1792, and at the same time was expanded to include the confiscated books of many French aristocrats. Napoleon took a great interest in the library and enlarged its collection. At one time during the nineteenth century it was the largest library in the world.
法国国家图书馆的历史可以追溯到路易十一于1461年建立的图书馆。1792年法国大革命期间，这座图书馆开始对公众开放，从法国贵族们那里没收的书也是在那时收藏入馆的。当时，拿破仑对这座图书馆燃起浓厚兴趣，还扩大了馆藏，它一度成为十九世纪世界上最大的图书馆。

8.National Library of China, (Beijing)
8.中国国家图书馆（北京）

Holding over 30 million books and documents, and visited by over five million people every year, this is the largest collection of Chinese writing in the world, and the largest library in Asia. It includes Chinese inscriptions on bone, stone, and tortoise shell which date back as far as the sixteenth century BC, and some of the oldest printed documents in existence.
中国国家图书馆的藏书与文献数量超过3000万册，年流通人次超过500万，是世界上中文藏书量最大的图书馆，也是亚洲最大的图书馆。这座图书馆收藏了最早可追溯至公元前16世纪的甲骨文，以及现存最古老的印刷文献。

7.Toronto Public Library (Canada, Ontario)
7.多伦多公立图书馆（加拿大，安大略省）

The Toronto Public Library, which has 98 branches, describes itself as the world's busiest urban library system. It receives more than 18 million visitors and makes 32 million book loans per year, which easily exceeds an average of one loan per book in its collection; this makes it unique among the world's big libraries. Its holdings include the Arthur Conan Doyle collection.
多伦多公立图书馆有98家分馆，自诩为世界上最繁忙的图书馆。该馆年流通人次超过1800万，年借阅量达到3200万册次，已超过其藏书量，因而在世界各大图书馆中显得尤为独特。多伦多公立图书馆还收藏了阿瑟·柯南·道尔的藏书。

6.National Diet Library (Tokyo, Japan)
6.国立国会图书馆（日本，东京）

The National Diet Library in Tokyo opened in 1948. Until the Second World War and the subsequent American occupation, Japan did not have a national public library. The Diet Library was established because public access to information was seen as a vital part of the post-war democratisation process. It serves as both the library for the Diet, Japan's two-chambered legislature, and a national library, holding copies of every book published in Japanese.
日本在二战后被美国占领之前尚未建立国家公立图书馆。但因为对公众开放信息被视作推进战后民主化进程的关键内容，所以，东京的国立国会图书馆应运而生，于1948年对外开放。它不仅是两院制立法机构——国会的图书馆，也是国家图书馆，收藏了所有已出版发行的日文书籍。

5.National Library of Russia (Saint Petersburg)
5.俄罗斯国家图书馆（圣彼得堡）

The Empress Catherine the Great established Russia's Imperial Public Library in 1795 with books from her own collection, which included Voltaire's personal library. The National Library of Russia evolved from this beginning, and now receives a million visitors every year. It contains treasures such as a very early copy of the Koran, and a fourth century New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus.
1795年， 叶卡捷琳娜女皇二世批准建立皇家公共图书馆，当时的馆藏包括女皇自己的藏书和伏尔泰的私人藏书。由此开始，该馆历经几代，发展为如今的俄罗斯国家图书馆，年流通人次达100万。目前馆藏包括：早期的《古兰经》印本、4世纪时期的《新约》、《西奈抄本》等等。

4.Russian State Library (Moscow)
4.俄罗斯国立图书馆（莫斯科）

Founded in 1862 as the Moscow public library and museum, this collection became the State Library in 1925. In consequence it receives copies of all Russian publications, and also holds large collections of maps, journals, music scores, and recordings. Its possessions include the Archangel Gospel, a codex in the Slavonic language dating from 1092. Like many national libraries, the Russian State Library has encountered repeated problems of space shortage, and has had to move sections of its holdings to repositories elsewhere.
俄罗斯国立图书馆始建于1862年，当时名为莫斯科公共博物馆及鲁缅采夫博物馆图书馆，1925年改名为苏联国立列宁图书馆。随后，这座图书馆收藏了所有发行的俄文著作，还有大量地图、札记、乐谱和音频文件。该馆藏有1092年《阿尔汉格尔斯克福音书》的斯拉夫语手抄本。与很多国家图书馆相似，俄罗斯国立图书馆的贮藏空间日渐不足，他们不得不将部分馆藏转存至其他地方的藏室。

3.New York Public Library
3.纽约公共图书馆

The New York Public Library developed gradually in the nineteenth century from the amalgamation and acquisition of a number of public and private collections; it has many branches in different boroughs of New York City. It retains a structure which combines public and private finance and governance. Treasures held at the library include a Gutenberg Bible. The main library building figured as an important fictional location in the 2004 film 'The Day After Tomorrow'.
19世纪，几家公共图书馆和私人藏馆合并成为纽约公共图书馆，并逐渐发展成今天的规模；目前，它在纽约市的不同区域拥有众多分馆。该馆经费依旧来源于公共和私人募捐，以及政府支持。馆内藏品丰富，包括《古腾堡圣经》在内。2004年的电影《后天》曾把纽约公共图书馆的总部作为重要取景地。

2.Library of Congress (United States, Washington, D.C.)
2.国会图书馆（美国，华盛顿）

Founded in 1800 with the private collection of Thomas Jefferson, the Library of Congress is in effect the USA's National Library, although only Congress members and employees can borrow books. It receives two copies of everything published in the United States. The Library of Congress was burned by the British Army in 1812, and severely damaged by fire again in 1851. The collection includes many rare books and drawings, and two Stradivarius violins.
国会图书馆成立于1800年，最初的馆藏书目由美国总统托马斯·杰斐逊所提供。尽管只有国会议员和图书馆职员才可以借书，但它是事实上的国家图书馆。凡在美国出版的书籍都要将两份复制本存放在这里。1812年，这座图书馆遭遇英军焚毁；1851年，又遭遇严重的火灾，损失惨重。美国国会图书馆藏有大量稀有书籍和绘画，以及两把珍贵的斯特拉迪瓦里小提琴。

1.British Library (United Kingdom, London)
1.大英图书馆（英国，伦敦）

The British Library was created by Act of Parliament in 1972; previously, the library had been part of the British Museum, where the famous circular reading room had accommodated researchers including Karl Marx, who worked on 'Das Kapital' there, as well as Oscar Wide and Mahatma Gandhi. The British Library is now housed in a new building in St. Pancras, London, where its treasures include two Gutenberg bibles, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks.
1972年英国议会通过法案，建立大英图书馆；此前，它是大英博物馆的一部分，卡尔·马克思曾在著名的圆形穹顶阅览室编著《资本论》，同样在那里读过书的名人还包括王尔德和圣雄甘地。大英图书馆的新馆址在伦敦圣潘克拉斯区，馆藏包括：《古登堡圣经》的两个版本、《林迪斯法恩福音书》、达芬奇的一本笔记，等等。

翻译：旭旭、Freya然 审校：Freya然 来源：前十网